SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Overview

Name:

Mr Thanos Petouris

Email address:

agpetouris@soas.ac.uk

Thesis title:

The Anti-Colonial Movement in Aden and the Protectorates of South Arabia, 1937-1967

Year of Study:

4

Internal Supervisors

• Laleh Khalili
• Charles R H Tripp

Biography

Thanos Petouris is currently writing up his thesis on South Yemeni national identity. He is researching the nationalist, anti-colonial movement in South Arabia and the subsequent decolonisation process from British rule in the years 1937-67. The theoretical focus of his thesis is to explain the emergence of national identities during periods of decolonisation, by using South Yemen as the historical case study. What makes this paradigm particularly relevant, is the ways in which South Yemeni identity is being employed in current Yemeni affairs as a way of politicising the grievances of the Southern Movement.

He spent his fieldwork year in both Yemen and Egypt, where he interviewed former Yemeni politicians, and members of the main southern nationalist movements (NLF, FLOSY, SAL), and conducted research in local archives. He is a regular contributor at the Chatham House Yemen Forum. He has been visiting Yemen since 2005, having lived in the past as an English teacher in Aden.

Awards: 

Hellenic State Scholarship
University of London Scholarship Fund
School of Oriental & African Studies Award for Fieldwork
Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund Grant
Society for Arabian Studies Research Grant
British-Yemeni Society Academic Grant

PhD Research

Fieldwork in Aden, Cairo, Jeddah and Damascus

PhD Publications

'A review of Yemen Divided: The Story of a Failed State in South Arabia by Noel Brehony'. Asian Affairs (2012 forthcoming)

‘Fieldwork Notes: A Year of Research in Southern Yemen’. British-Yemeni Society Journal 19 (2011), pp. 38-44.

‘The Camel Drivers of Soqotra’. Tayf 8 (2011)

PhD Conferences

‘Representations of Yemen in the British Media’ (2009) Yemen Panel Series, University of Exeter.

‘Accountability and Political Inclusion in Yemen’ (2010) Chatham House Yemen Forum

‘Where Next for Yemen? Perspectives on the Youth Movement’ (2011) Chatham House Yemen Forum

‘Women in Resistance: Female Participation in the Anti-Colonial Movement in South Arabia (2011); joint lecture British-Yemeni Society & Society for Arabian Studies/British Foundation for the Study of Arabia at SOAS.

‘Yemen: Past and Present’  (2011); lecture at the Ionic Centre, Athens

PhD Affiliations

British-Yemeni Society committee member; BRISMES; MESA; British Foundation for the Study of Arabia; Royal Society for Asian Affairs